Public-Land Hunting at Risk

Hunting on public land in the United States is unlike any other country on earth. Wildlife is to America as soccer is to Brazil, and it’s not by accident. Our extensive public lands and myriad species of wild animals are supported by hunters who pony up an 11 percent tax on all types of outdoor hunting and shooting gear. Hunters pay for most of the conservation efforts in this country, yet The Humane Society of the United States and other anti-hunting groups will use any means necessary to eliminate hunting from public lands. The National Shooting Sports Foundation is a leading defender of our right to hunt and sounds this alarm to help keep our rights secure. Advocate and rocker Ted Nugent describes the situation.

You may have seen the news that the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), along with other anti-hunting groups and individuals, filed a petition with the Interior Department demanding rules against hunting with traditional ammunition on public lands – one-fifth of the total land area in the U.S. We warned this was coming after their playbook was discovered. After all, this is the same HSUS that is run by Wayne Pacelle, who has made his goals known: “If we could shut down all sport hunting in a moment, we would.” (The Kingman Daily Miner, 30 December 1991).“We are going to use the ballot box and the democratic process to stop all hunting in the United States. We will take it species by species until all hunting is stopped in California. Then we will take it state by state.” (Full Cry Magazine, 1 October 1990).The 50 page-petition is littered with junk science and fails to make the case that the use of traditional ammunition is a threat to wildlife populations or to humans that would warrant such a drastic action. Are we really to believe USUS finds hunting acceptable just so long as hunters use alternative ammunition? Hunters, sportsmen and target shooters aren’t gullible. We know better than to trust HSUS with setting hunting policy for the entire country. But we can’t assume the Obama Administration’s Interior Department is on our side. Call Interior Secretary Sally Jewell today at202-208-3181 and tell her to reject this scientifically baseless petition from HSUS to ban traditional ammunition. Let the Department of the Interior know that requiring the use of alternative, non-lead ammunition, is nothing more than a back-door way to ban hunting by raising the price of participating in an American sporting tradition. Make sure to tell them:

There is no sound science to support banning traditional ammunition used by hunters for centuries.

Don’t allow the Humane Society and other anti-hunting groups to advance their end game of banning all hunting through the tactic of by banning the use of traditional ammunition for hunting on public lands.

There is absolutely no adverse wildlife population impact that warrants such a drastic measure.

There is no evidence that consuming game taken with traditional ammunition poses a human health to hunters and their family.

Hunters are the original conservationists. Excise taxes (11%) raised from the sale of traditional ammunition the HSUS and others unfairly demonize is a primary source of wildlife conservation funding. Banning traditional ammunition will harm the very animals HSUS claims to care about.

Joe Byers has more than 1,000 magazine articles in print and is currently a field editor with Whitetail Journal, Predator Xtreme, Whitetails Unlimited, Crossbow Revolution, and African Hunting Journal magazines. He’s spent the last three decades depicting the thrill of the chase and photographing the majesty of all things wild. Byers is a member of the Professional Outdoor Media Association and numerous other professional and conservation organizations.